Covid Inquiry

I have seen just a few bits on the news but like most enquiries (of whatever nature) it will be a complete waste of time and money with the same outcome “lessons will be learned.”

The thing is it was a complete one off and nobody had any experience of how to handle it. Boris had to listen to his advisors as, obviously, he is not an expert in Covid. At the same time he had teachers screaming at him that he needed to lock down straight away along with thousands of other people who fancied a few months off work.

It’s now generally accepted that lockdown was the wrong thing to do but millions of people were paid furlough, businesses were helped enormously in this country unlike many other countries so I really do believe that Boris did his best under very difficult circumstances.

Urmstongran

This is costing £££millions and seems bloated already with the KC showboating. It’s not a court of law! It’s an inquiry and it’s tortuous to listen to. I’ve given up on it.

Look at Sweden they’ve done theirs and published it already! Ours is like a farce. We should cut & paste Sweden’s recommendations otherwise we’ll be presented with another pandemic before this last one has been assessed!

Beyond ridiculous.

But there again.....I do believe you are a member of the Johnson fan club? It must be difficult for you seeing on screen what many of us have said for years, namely that Johnson was morally unfit for the job and a proven liar. Thoughts and prayers 🙏

MayBee70

He was too busy with getting Brexit done and sorting out his divorce.

And going on holiday. He had 5 during early 2020.

I don't believe proven liars.

This is costing £££millions and seems bloated already with the KC showboating. It’s not a court of law! It’s an inquiry and it’s tortuous to listen to. I’ve given up on it.

Look at Sweden they’ve done theirs and published it already! Ours is like a farce. We should cut & paste Sweden’s recommendations otherwise we’ll be presented with another pandemic before this last one has been assessed!

Beyond ridiculous.

He was too busy with getting Brexit done and sorting out his divorce.

BlueBelle

*I think all countries will, to some extent, be better prepared*

The funny thing is Dickens the NHS and other sectors did have a plan for pandemics and did have practices ( I m not sure how regularly maybe annually) but all that was completely thrown out the window and overshadowed by the government and their ideas (look at PPE)

Emergency planning and preparedness for an infectious disease was not high enough on the Government’s agenda and took a back seat to Brexit preparations. In the run-up to Covid-19, resource and manpower was diverted to plan for the UK’s exit from the EU and pandemic preparedness meetings were regularly cancelled.

The UK’s pandemic preparedness was inadequate and focused only on influenza – as previous witnesses have explained, including former Prime Minister David Cameron. This was despite strong evidence and expert advice that other potential infections should not be ignored.

NHS and Department of Health restructures and reorganisations from 2012 onwards – as austerity measures took hold - undermined the resilience of the health system, and the quality and coherence of pandemic and emergency planning.

(The Royal College of Nursing (RCN)’s Rose Gallagher MBE, a nurse, expert and professional lead in infection prevention and control, giving evidence.)

Many will disagree, but I believe the-man-in-charge had more important (to him) things on his mind and really did not want to bother with an infection that he believed had been blown out of proportion (and which, anyway, was nature's way of dealing with the old), so didn't give it the focus that was needed. Possibly the kind of focus that he wasn't even capable of because as is rumoured, he doesn't 'do' detail - for which he only has a short attention span. I wish him no ill, but I believe he was the worst Prime Minister we've ever had, and unfortunately he presided over the pandemic.

Thats why the inquiry has been divided into modules Scribbles they can't possibly cover everything in one go

He hasn't been asked the right questions. More than who-said-what on WhatsApp, I want to know why so many contracts were awarded to friends to provide stuff that was useless or never materialised. And why were so many business loans made to fraudsters who promptly disappeared with the money? And why has no effort been made to catch up with those people and prosecute them/recover the money?

I think all countries will, to some extent, be better prepared

The funny thing is Dickens the NHS and other sectors did have a plan for pandemics and did have practices ( I m not sure how regularly maybe annually) but all that was completely thrown out the window and overshadowed by the government and their ideas (look at PPE)

Here's a factcheck on New Zealand's excess deaths:

apnews.com/article/fact-check-covid-vaccines-new-zealand-949096630073

MIY Did the claim about New Zealand have anything to do with Andrew Bridgen's recent speech in Parliament? If so, I give anything that man utters about as much credence as I do stories about the tooth fairy.

25Avalon

Are other countries having similar inquiries or is it just us? Are Scotland having one?

Yes, there’s a separate Inquiry for Scotland. According to the BBC Inquiry bosses have said they will "adopt a flexible approach" to collecting evidence given the inevitable overlap between these different themes. The UK Covid Inquiry will be sitting in Scotland in January of next year meaning the Scottish inquiry will not. Wales opted not to have a separate Inquiry which I’m glad about, as the UK Inquiry will focus on the responses of the individual nations too.
I hope Johnson will be asked about his dealings with the leaders of the devolved nations, if it was on today I missed it.

My son, who's a politics geek, came to visit yesterday and said he was looking forward to watching Johnson's appearance. I jokingly responded that I didn't think he'd be able to stick it. He's just texted me to say "Mum, you were right!" I think that's the first time he's ever admitted that I'm right sometimes.

I wish I had a pound for every time he said ‘I can’t remember’ today. Sky News seem to imply that he did rather well today which surprises me.

I do actually almost believe him when he says he can't remember. He seems to have a very limited attention span, to put it mildly.

Galaxy

It might be a useful part of the strategy to think what they will do instead of lockdowns as people wont follow that guidance again.

I suppose that is assuming it’s the same people another pandemic of such magnitude may or never happen in our lifetime. It’s not exactly a regular occurrence

It might be a useful part of the strategy to think what they will do instead of lockdowns as people wont follow that guidance again.

25Avalon

Are other countries having similar inquiries or is it just us? Are Scotland having one?

I think Sweden's already had theirs - and Norway, either still in process, or finished... they were looking at ways to improve their response 'next time' round, sort of thing.

I believe in some countries there are also criminal proceedings, but I can't remember which ones.

So yes, it's not just us. And it makes sense. I'm sure some good will come out of such inquiries. A 'learning curve'.

I think all countries will, to some extent, be better prepared. It seems they all made some mistakes... inevitably.

Are other countries having similar inquiries or is it just us? Are Scotland having one?

MaizieD

As far as the missing WhatsApps are concerned most IT people have said that they are always recoverable, even after a reset to factory state.

Strange that Sunak's WhatsApps have gone missing for the same period...

Surely then if they are that important some IT experts would have recovered them if it was possible ?

I was rather looking forward to listening to this over the two days but listening to him waffle on is like having bits of my brain pulled out with a pair of tweezers.

That's exactly how I feel, MayBee. I managed a couple of hours but couldn't take any more.

As far as the missing WhatsApps are concerned most IT people have said that they are always recoverable, even after a reset to factory state.

Strange that Sunak's WhatsApps have gone missing for the same period...

Thank you MIY I’d looked for an accredited source.

I have only read the bullet points so far as I have been out all day. Will hopefully get time to listen later but I have the feeling that no matter what he says people have their own thoughts on what happened and not a lot will persuade them otherwise.
As regards to the missing Whats app message who knows I lost a year or so of messages recently